[PeekaJinx]

I really appreciate all of the support I have gotten since I originally posted this thread. I guess I just got freaked out when I first started calorie counting and went "OMG! how am I supposed to do this?!"

Some of your suggestions have been very helpful and I am implementing them into my diet strategies. I did slip once, but it was more of a last binge of my favorite food that I will be missing for a long time. After that, I have been making a very strong effort to make sure I only eat the amount of calories I am supposed to eat.

I think my next challenge is actually remembering to eat 3 meals a day to help my metabolism. I was always a one meal a day person, and sometimes not even that. I once went a full two days and couldn't figure out why I had a migraine until someone asked me when the last time I ate was!

[tamaralynn]

I'm sure someone posted this before:

But for many of my ingredients for my foods, I try to substitute with lower fat foods (lower fats USUALLY end up being lower calorie, but not always).

Before my diet, I NEVER used to read labels... I would just grab whatever off the grocery shelves and go with it.

Now I look.

It's funny, whenever I'm craving something like a chocolate bar, I will usually grab my favorites and look at the label - most bars are usually around 250 calories. The reality of the calories will usually take over and I always end up putting it on the back of the shelf.

If the bars come in two or more portions (e.g. Turtles, Twix, box of Jr. Mints), I'll buy it, eat a small portion and put the rest into the freezer (I LOVE frozen chocolate!)

For snacks, I try to find something that is usually under 100 calories (for me, a snack is 100 calories or less). This can be

- youghurt (frozen or regular)
- Fruit cup
- jello
- Pickles (2 large BIC pickles have 3 calories!!)
- Cooked Turkey sausage (Piller's Turkey Bites - 50 calories each and so yummy - but look out for the sodium content... sodium makes you retain water)
- 2 Stoned Wheat (bell flavored) crackers with cheese (95 cals, of course depends on which cheese - I like the flavored Laughing Cow Party Cubes)

If I'm cooking foods, I try to add as much fresh ingredients as possible, but there are some that call for soups, mixes etc. I count everything that goes into the recipe, and divide it by the number of servings. I will also make sure to add fresh veggies to the meal - even if it's just a plain salad with low calorie/fat salad dressing. For the dressing, if it's low cal or low fat, I'll usually just put a portioned amount onto my salad directly. If it's a higher fat dressing (eating out etc) or I don't know what the content of the dressing is, I'll usually dip my fork into the dressing and spear the salad and eat it that way. Of course some salads already have dressings mixed in (ceasar etc). I always ask for the smallest portion.

I've never been a big carb person - but there are times when I do like them. I try to stick with the whole varieties (e.g. brown rice, whole or multigrain breads etc).

When I drink milk, I usually stick with a small glass of 2%. There was a study a while back that says that three servings of regular fat milk helps take off the belly fat compaired to others. DOn't know if this is true or not, but I don't bother buying skim, it's usually 1 or 2 percent. Both of my kids are skinny little ones, so the fat helps them as well.

[Tealeaf]

It might take some getting used to, but the nearly fat free hotdogs are a good calorie choice. The ones I eat have 40 calories each. Put two of them on 80 calorie diet buns and you can have a couple of hot dogs for dinner for less than 300 calories (course, I always ketchup and mustard, so probably right at 300 for me).